Dota 2 fans have been looking forward to the upcoming MDL Chengdu Major and the accompanying DOTA Summit 11. With the focus on the first major and minor of the DPC season, DreamLeague Season 12 is now over without much fanfare. It's not surprising considering that only six teams participated in the tournament, with Alliance coming out on top and taking home $100,000.
Going back to the tournament, that it had a smaller scope was surprising considering that DreamLeague Season 11, also known as the Stockholm Major, was the third Major of the 2018-2019 DPC Season. Meanwhile DreamLeague Season 13 has been dubbed as the Leipzig Major, the second Major of the 2019-2020 DPC Season.
While DreamLeague Season 12 is not a Valve-sanctioned event, it unofficially kicked off the new DPC season. Four teams received a direct invite with one team coming from the Europe Qualifier and the other from the North America Qualifier. With only six teams, the Group Stage only had three teams each. The top team from each group immediately went to the Winners' Finals, which could be considered as the Upper Bracket semifinals. The four other teams started in the Losers' Round.
During the Group Stage, it was Alliance and Ninjas in Pyjamas that came out on top and went head-to-head in the Winners' Finals. In this best-of three series, it was Alliance all the way. In the first game, Nikolay "Nikobaby" Nikolov dominated the match on Gyrocopter with 12 kills and only 1 death. In the second game it was still Nikobaby, but this time with help from Neta "33" Shapira.
NiP dropped to the Losers' Finals and played against NA team Demon Slayers. In the first game, it was NiP with Oliver "Skiter" Lepko and Nico "Gunnar" Lopez getting double digit scores in kills. In the second game, Demon Slayers secured the win thanks to Canadian Dota 2 player Danny "iAnnihilate" Cote's performance netting 18 kills and zero deaths. The series moved to Game 3 and while NiP had the initial advantage, Demon Slayers turned the tables at around the 36-minute mark. Demon Slayers moved on to the Finals versus Alliance.
The Grand Finals went off to a good start for Demon Slayers. Despite an impressive performance from Nikobaby in Game 1, the combined efforts of iAnnihilate and Guilherme "Costabile" Silva Costábile gave Demon Slayers the win. In Game 2, Alliance had trouble dealing with Costabile's Lycan giving Demon Slayers the win with only one victory keeping the team from the championship.
Alliance did not take these losses sitting down and Nikobaby and 33 showed strong performances and, helped by Linus "Limmp" Blomdin, finished the third game with 30 kills against 10 from Demon Slayers. In Game 4 Alliance looked to have found a solution against Demon Slayers, with Nikobaby finishing with 12 kills on Juggernaut. It now boiled down to the deciding Game 5. Despite a strong showing by Costabile and iAnnihilate, it wouldn't be enough. Alliance took the victory at just around the 40-minute mark.
With this win, Alliance has a bit of momentum going for them in the upcoming MDL Chengdu Major. What do you think? Does Alliance have the advantage heading to the first major of the new season?
